Sentinel Digital Desk
Auctions are where the rarest treasures find their value, and some things have sold for stratospheric prices in the past. Here are seven of the most expensive auction items ever sold, each with a backstory that adds to their great value:
In November 2017, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Salvator Mundi" was sold at Christie's New York for a record $450,312,500.
In November 2018, Sotheby's Geneva held an auction of Marie Antoinette's Pearl Pendant, which brought in an incredible $36 million.
In November 1994, Bill Gates paid $30.8 million at Christie's in New York for the Codex Leicester, a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's scientific writings.
In June 2007, Sotheby's in New York sold "Artemis and the Stag," a bronze sculpture from the early Roman Imperial or Hellenistic period, for $28.6 million.
At a Beverly Hills auction in June 2011, Marilyn Monroe's "Subway Dress" from the movie "The Seven Year Itch" brought in $5.6 million.
In March 2023, a Guarneri del Gesù violin, made in the early 1700s, sold for $9.44 million at Tarisio New York.
A lock of Elvis Presley's hair, cut by his personal barber Homer Gilleland, fetched $1,625 at Julien's Auctions.